Bahrain to hold fresh talks to end crisis soon

An adviser to Bahrain’s King His Majesty Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said the Gulf Arab state would hold a “comprehensive dialogue” soon to end a year-long political crisis but the opposition said it was unaware of such plans. The comments by Nabeel Al Hamer, the king’s media adviser, were published by the state news agency late on Friday after a leading cleric led what appeared to be the biggest opposition pro-democracy demonstration since a wave of protests erupted in February last year. “Al Hamer said there would soon be a comprehensive dialogue including all elements of Bahraini society and affirmed that everyone wants to end the crisis the country is in,” BNA said. A senior figure from the leading opposition party Wefaq said the group was not aware that any new talks were planned. “We haven’t heard officially from them yet,” said Abduljalil Khalil. Royal Court Minister Shaikh Khaled bin Ahmed met figures from Wefaq and separately with other opposition parties in January and February to sound them out about possible negotiations. But youth activists and dissident political groups do not want Wefaq to enter into talks.